This invention concerns the use of lateral flow devices in the detection of analyte levels.
Flow through or lateral-flow assays have become more common for many analytes. These devices works on the principal of capillary flow of a mobile phase like a bodily fluid, through a porous solid support membrane. Traditional lateral flow tests use dyed or metallic nanoparticles that become entrapped or bound within pre-defined binding sites in the presence of the analyte of interest. Increasing concentrations of analyte produce increasing densities of nanoparticles within these binding sites. The amount of analyte may therefore be determined by quantifying the number of nanoparticles. This has generally necessitated the use of a reader, adding both to the complexity and to the cost of the test.
There remains a need for a rapid, quantitative test that obviates the need for a reader.